Geobge vi i



v NG TLN NE Y B A Gm R No. 44,901 Patented Nov. 1, 1864.

W W My UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

enonen VIKING, on Boston, hlASSAGHUSETTS.

IMPROVEMENT IN ROTARY ENGINES.

Specification forming partcf Letters Patent No. 44,901, dated November 1, 1864.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE VINING, of Boston, in the county of Sufl'olk and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Rotary Engines; and 1 do hereby declare that the following description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, hereinafter referred to, forms a full and exact specification of the same, wherein I have set forth the nature and principles of my said improvements, by which my invention may be distinguished from all others of a similar class, together with such parts as I claim and desire to have secured to me by Letters Patent.

For many purposes a rotary steain-engine possesses several advantages over a reciprocating engine, as has long been known; but heretofore the complication 1 of parts necessary to produce working rotary engines has prevented their being brought into successful practical operation. Where, for instance, it has been necessary to give considerable play to the main parts of the engine-such as the valves, piston, &c.-,in order that they Should adapt themselves to the various requirements and peculiarities of motion difi'ering essentially from those of an ordinary reciprocating engine, it has been found almost impossible to prevent leakage, owing to the great friction and wear of the parts. i

The object of the present invention is to so construct a rotary steam-engine as to make every motion that is requisite to be givensuch as those for the induction and eduction of steam, the travel of the piston, &c.-a positive one, requiring no play or Self-adapta tion of parts, thus rendering the packing of the various devices as feasible and as perfect as in areciprocatin g engine.

My improvement consists, briefly, in the use of a rotating piston traveling in one and the same circular path in a suitable chamber, combined with a rotating disk moving in the said chamber at right angles to the plane of motion of the piston, and in such a manner and is so constructed as both to furnish a steamabutment for the piston to act against and yet allow the passage of the piston through it at the )roper intervals of time for the reception and delivery of steam. This rotating disk is inclosed in a steam tight casing, and, moreover, is attached to; or forms a part from the main steam chamber.

of, a rotating, cylin-ler, through ports of which the steam is permitted to enter into and escape Furthermore, every movement necessary for the operation 01 my apparatus is so contrived and arranged as .to be inra circular plane.

In the accompanying plate of drawings my improvements in rotary-engines are represented.

, Figure l is a side elevation of the same; Fig. 2, a central longitudinal vertical section, and Fig. 3 a transverse vertical section.

a ain the accompanying drawings represent the main steam cylinder or chamber. Within this chamber a a plays a piston, b, attached to or forming a part of a drum, 0, having its periphery concave,for a purpose to be hereinafter specified. The drum cis secured to a horizontal shaft, (Z, passing through the sides oi said cylinder u, and having hearings in two standards, ff. When motion is communicated to the piston b by the pressure of the steam, it travels in a fixed path within the chamber a, without ever changing its line of motion, its adaptation to the inner periphery of the steam-chamber being the same as that of the piston in any ordinary reciprocating steamengine, and consequently requiring no difierent packing.

g g is a circular disk placed within the steam-tight casing h h, and attached to or forming a part of a hollow steam-drum, i i, having hearings in the projections of the said casing h. This, disk g g is placed at right angles to the plane of revolution of the piston b, and has two portions, 1 l, of its surface cut away at points diametrically opposite to-each other, corresponding in shape to the piston, So as to allow it to pass through the same at the proper time as revolved. The unbroken parts of the. edge of said disk fit and bear against the concave drum 0, before referred to. The disk g g has an intermittent rotary motion iniparted to it by means of any suitable arrangement of devices connecting itwith the shaft d of the concave drum 0.

In the drawings Ihave represented one mode of connection, consisting of a wheel, m, placed on the shaft 01 and revolving with the same, having a cam way or groove, n, in its periphery. In the groove n travels the upper end of an arm of the angular connecting-rod p, turning on a fixed hearing at a. the lower end of. said rod being attaohcd to the rod 1, se-

' cured to the crank s of steam-drum shaft t.

' which the same operate together.

Steam is first admitted to'the piston cylinde'r a through the port y of the chamber a, and acting against the piston b impels itin the direction represented, by the arrow in Fig. 3, and in a fixed path around the inner periphery of the steam chamber. During this movement of'the piston the circular disk 9, with its steam-drum "i, is slowly and gradually revolved, bearing" against the concave periphery of the pistondrum d by means of the connecting devices described, its unbroken surface then forming a steam abutmentfor the piston to act against, until the piston has reached it, or nearly so, when it is suddenly and quickly moved and one of its apertures Lbrought in apposition with said piston and kept there until the said piston has passed through the same to the other side of the disk, when it is as quickly moved again to closethe opening and present its unbroken surface to the steam then admitted to 'the piston-chamber through the port y, above named. The exhaust-steam back of the piston in thechamber a then passes therefrom through the port 2 to the steamdrum 1' at the same time that the disk is moving forward by the revolution of the piston in the chamber, to which steam has been again admitted, until the piston reaches it, when like movements of both disk and piston take place, as above described, and so on until the engineis stopped; Theinduotion and eduction ports of the steam-chamber are. opened and closed at the proper times by the revolution of the steam-drum, the corresponding 'ports of said drum being arranged in the same in the proper position therefor.

Having thus described my improvements 1 shall state my claims, as follows: 7

1. The combination of the piston traveling in one andthe same circular path in a-suitable steam-chamber, and a disk moving at rightanglesthereto in suoha manner and so 'constructedvas both to furnish a steam abutfm'ent-to and permit the passageithro'ugh it of the said piston, substantially as described 2. The combination and arrangement of the.

disk and steam-drum, so operating together that the rotary movement given to the said drum and. disk shall be such as to permit the ingress and egress of the steam to and from the steamoylinder at the properitimespand also present a steam-abutment to the piston, as set forth.

GEO. VINING,

VVitnesses JOSEPH GAVETT, ALBERT W. BROWN. 

